Mustangs heading for playoffs

HARRY BARRETT

Published 6:00 pm, Tuesday, November 14, 2000

Jaxson Appel rushed for 202 yards and quarterback Jeff Ballard passed for 153 as the Friendswood Mustangs picked up a District 23-4A Co-Championship with a hard fought 42-20 win over Dickinson Friday at Henry Winston Field in Friendswood.

Coach Steve Van Meter's Friendswood team lost their first district game of the year to La Marque, but put together six consecutive wins over district opponents to finish 6-1 in league play and finish 8-2 for the regular season and tied with the Cougars for the district title.

The Mustangs will play Brazosport (8-2) in the first round of the Class 4A Division II playoffs Thursday at 7:30 p.m at Pasadena Memorial Stadium. La Marque (7-3) will take on Columbia (8-2) Friday at 7 p.m in Angelton. Texas City (6-4)the third team from 23-4A and the defending state champions will play a Division I game Friday at 7:30 in Rice Stadium when the Stings take on Bay City (9-1).

"We were very pleased to get the win over Dickinson, pick up a share of the district title and advance to the playoffs," said Van Meter. "Dickinson did a good job against us in the first half, but I was pleased with the way we played against them."

Appel who picked up 165 yards the week before increased his season total to and scored two touchdowns. The future Texas Aggie has now scored 18 touchdowns this year and has scored 114 points. Ballard has 18 touchdowns and he has scored 108 points since he took over as the Friendswood quarterback.

"They just couldn't stop number 11 (Appel) and he had another outstanding game," said Van Meter. "Jeff played well and had a number of big plays and I was also pleased with the overall effort."

The Mustangs picked up 15 first downs and had a total offense of 452 yards. Friendswood rushed for 299 yards and passed for 153 and did not have a turnover. Dickinson was held to 12 first downs and a 103 yards rushing. The Gators did have a big passing night as Dustin McDaniel passed for 234 yards and a touchdown.

"They had a good plan against us in the first half, but we made a couple of formation changes and it made a difference in the second half," said Van Meter. "We were able to run on them and Jeff had a good night throwing the ball."

Dickinson picked up the first points of the game when Mike Pugh scored on a one yard run with 5:01 left in the first half. David Summers added the extra point and the Gators led 7-0 until the final 36 seconds of the half.

It looked like the Gators would take a seven point lead into the dressing room at halftime, but Chris Bledsoe intercepted a Dickinson pass and returned it 37 yards to the Gator six yard line. Four plays later Ballard ran in the ball from the one and Bryan Musick's extra point kick tied the game at 7.

"That was a very big interception by Chris and it really gave us lift going into the second half," said Van Meter. "I was glad that we were able to get a touchdown near the end of the half because it looked like we were going to go in with no points."

The second half was all Friendswood as the Mustangs outscored the Gators 35-13 to finish with a 22 point win. The Mustangs scored 14 points in the third quarter and added 21 more against Trahan's Dickinson team that finished the year with a 4-3 district mark and a season record of 5-5.

In the third quarter Friendswood took the lead for good when Appel scored on the first play from scrimmage following the kickoff. The Friendswood senior dashed 57 yards and Musick added the PAT with 11:40 left in the quarter for a 14-7 advantage.

With 39 seconds left in the quarter Ballard connected with Jarrett Smith on a 19-yard touchdown pass for Friendswood's third touchdown. Musick added the extra point to move the Friendswood lead to 21-7 point into the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter was wild as the two teams combined for 34 points. Appel scored on an 11-yard run with 10:22 left in the fourth quarter and Musick's PAT sent the scored to 28-7. Dickinson answered with a 6-yard run by McDaniel and Summer's extra point kick cut the lead to 28-14 with 7:39 left in the game.

"Dickinson came out ready to play and they played hard the entire game," said Van Meter. "We had a big second half and a big fourth quarter and that was the difference in the game.

After McDaniel's touchdown run the Mustangs answered with a 39-yard touchdown pass from Ballard to Michael Myrick. Musick added his fifth extra point of the game to give Van Meter's team a 21 point lead at 35-14.

Dickinson wasn't finished as the Gators came right back with a 36-yard touchdown pass from McDaniel to Josh Jones with 4:46 left in the game. Summers missed the extra point try leaving the Mustangs with a 35-20 advantage.

Friendswood closed out the scoring for the night and the game with 1:45 remaining in the quarter. Joe Denke scored on a 7-yard run and Marcos Banda added the final PAT of the game as the Mustangs started looking forward to the playoffs.

Van Meter was pleased with the play of Joe Penny who was filling in for the injured Cameron Sanders and had 14 tackles. The Friendswood coach was also happy with the play of Rusty Pladckemeier, Chris Dannemiller, Marcus Hale, Daverick Williams, Elliot Barcak, Daniel Keith, Brandon Sevedge, Rashad Carter, Dustin Allen and Bledsoe.

Myrick pulled in four passes for 87 yards while Salyer had two receptions for 41 yards and Smith had one for 25 yards. After Appel's 202 yards on the ground Ballard had 47 and Denke finished with 30 yards.